“Live as though you will die tomorrow, learn as though you will live for ever” Gandhi

Nocturnal Students

It seems clear to me that around exam time students to become more nocturnal animals somewhat accidentally. As I am writing this at 4am I can testify to being one of these nocturnal students.

It starts when students decide that in order to get more work done they are going to work through the night; however, due to courses being over at exam time when you eventually do go to bed there is no necessity to get up in the morning. Therefore despite peoples best intentions by working late to get stuff done they do end up sleeping away the morning. So what though? Most Students will tell you after a 9 o’clock lecture that they were to asleep to take anything in and many will try and bite your head off if you awaken them before 11 so is working late and getting up late really such a bad thing after all if you work from 9am to 9pm you will do the same amount of work as you would do working from 2pm to 2am but you get to skip the morning.

In theory this seems to work, same amount of hours same amount of work; however, in reality studies show the best time for retention of information is between 8 am and 10 pm so the nocturnal instincts of students really aren’t doing them any favours when it comes to revision. It is also unhealthy with regards to sleeping patterns; many student have become literally nocturnal in that they have started going to bed a the sun rises. There has been several times when my medic flatmate has gone to bed as daylight was streaming in. Tonight is one of those nights.

In addition to the fact that in this late night studying our retention is worse our capabilities to write and logically think are reduced as you may be able to tell from the punctuation in some on my writing. With this piece being written at 4am it is almost certain that I will be required to edit it later. Indeed I did this is edit take two.

The level of caffeine students use to stay awake until such ludicrous times is also not good for us. Energy drinks and plentiful cups of coffee are the norm used to fend of the ever approaching wave of tiredness. Surely the level of tiredness should be a hint that now is not an appropriate time to be working but for some reasons us students have decided we know better than our body and will thus pump ourselves with chemicals to remain functional at a time of day we are not designed to be mentally present in.

Despite all of this compelling reasoning I will still likely stay up late and sleep in late, why? I’m not quite sure. Perhaps its the quiet of night, its relaxing qualities or perhaps its just what I’ve grown accustomed too.